PrintThis article by Joel Levy was published in the February 8, 2009 issue of The Highland Park Mirror.
On the SAFE Side
Most martial arts schools, my own included, teach some form of self defense. Some teach more practical methods than others, but what always struck me as interesting is how rarely the schools teach what to do to avoid needing self-defense in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong. Responsible instructors will always tell their students something along the lines of, “Common sense before self defense.” But few really use a systematic method based on true research and statistics, to teach kids, teens, and adults how to live a safer and more aware lifestyle on a daily basis.
In my own search for answers to these questions years ago, I came across some hard-core bodyguard training. Like many others, I thought bodyguards were just big scary guys that beat people up. And I did meet some that were ‘monsters’ — at least on the outside — but I also met others that were maybe 5’3” and 120 pounds.
I also discovered that a good number of them were women, and for good reason. Imagine a female celebrity such as Beyonce wanting to go into Victoria’s Secret . . . . or even just needing the ladies’ room. She certainly doesn’t want a male bodyguard shadowing her during her more personal moments.
What I learned is that Executive Protection Agents (what true bodyguards are called), far from being punch-drunk goons, are highly intelligent, well-trained, and methodical professionals.
The biggest part of this job is what is called Advance Work: gathering as much advance information about everything from potential threats, to the client’s food preferences, to medical needs or conditions. The better the ‘advance’ is, the better the job goes, and the more potentially bad situations are avoided in the first place.
As a professional and lifelong martial artist, I took it upon myself to study and train with these agents. That included learning advance work, handling a motorcade, receiving lines, third party protection, and many other skills. Fighting skills per se were not as much of a focus.
At our Family Martial Arts Academy, in addition to the regular Martial Arts curriculum, we also teach a variety of self-escape and personal safety courses as well. As I see it, knowing you can take it to a higher level if necessary gives you the confidence to use the lower level skills first. You won’t panic in a situation if you know you can handle it if it goes bad.
At the same time, a calm confidence will help you to think clearly in order to spot potential danger, and use your self-escape tools to avoid it. Without true training in the lower level skills, there is a danger that you go straight to the higher level skills first, which may not be the appropriate response.
Self escape training is fun, and gives people the confidence of knowing what to do in the majority of circumstances that require some action. This is especially true if it is based on honest Bodyguard or Executive Protection skills, tactics, and training, because getting to safety and avoiding trouble is paramount.
You may ask, “What about the small percentage of the time when something more than self-escape is required?” That is where the confidence in your martial arts skills is essential.
The bad guys know this too. They are bad, but often not dumb, and crime is what they do for a living. So with self-preservation high on their list of priorities, they do study people. While you are oblivious to the world, in too much of a hurry to notice, you don’t know who notices you. And bad guys, not being dumb guys, typically look for someone who presents an easy target.
Make it a habit to pick your eyes up periodically, and in a left to right scanning motion, scan the area where you are standing or walking. This does two things. One, by looking around, you will notice if anything or anyone seems out of place or is behaving suspiciously. By noticing this, you immediately demonstrate to anyone looking for an unsuspecting victim that you are not the person they are looking for. The other thing is that bad guys want to fly below the radar, and do not want to be put in spotlight. Their goals are to do their crime and stay out of jail. When they see you scanning the area it puts a spotlight on their behavior, disrupting their ability to go unnoticed.
The physical training component can be easily learned by anyone of any age using the Training For Life™ techniques which we teach in Shopping Sense®. For excellent personal protection information and techniques, I recommend Tom Patire’s Personal Protection Handbook or video tapes. Both are available at my website 
I teach a series of classes called Know and Go®. Some of the things they learn in our Know and Go® course are what to do when: